TOURISM bosses in the Lake District have issued a plea for people to continue visiting despite the first outbreak of foot and mouth being confirmed in the National Park.

They are keen to stress most attractions are still open and only the fells are closed to the public.

However, at least one attraction is beating the gloom. On the piers of Bowness Bay, Windermere, Lake Cruises normally attract more than a million visitors a year - second only to Blackpool's Pleasure Beach in the north.

Director Philip Hardman said: ''We're actually busier than usual at this time of year. People who are coming are sailing and we are even putting on extra boats at the weekend.

''A lot of the publicity has been overdone. You can look up this lake and nothing you see has been affected by foot and mouth. It is very much the north of Cumbria but we are all tarred with the same brush.

''In the long-term, though, it will affect us terribly. A lot of Americans have already cancelled for May and June.''

Walkers may not be welcome on the footpaths and bridleways but the National Park Authority is so worried about them staying away altogether that they have devised a series of walks over fenced roads as an alternative.

So far there are a dozen, complete with emergency maps, across the Lakes. ''It's better than nothing, '' said walker Mary Farmer from Leicestershire. ''You have still got the scenery.''

All over the Lakes, tea shops hope to keep up the old English tradition. There are signs, however, that it will be a struggle.

Tessa Wright, whose Highfield guesthouse in Keswick was without guests, said: ''All my Easter bookings have cancelled. Guesthouses and hotels are dropping their prices but still people are quibbling. But there is loads for them to do. It is not everybody who wants to walk on the fells.''